Protecting historic churches

The Churches Conservation Trust is the national charity protecting historic churches at risk.

We’ve saved over 345 beautiful buildings which attract almost 2 million visitors a year. With our help and with your support they are kept open and in use – living once again at the heart of their communities.

Our estate is the largest single collection of historic churches in the country, featuring treasures ranging from virtually untouched medieval gems in idyllic rural settings, to ornately impressive Victorian masterpieces in busy town centres. We also protect a small number of inner urban churches with serious repair problems, which need new uses and significant funds to survive. All our churches are of international importance and interest.

About the CCT

The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity. We were established in 1969 by Parliament and the Church of England to look after the most important historic churches no longer needed for regular worship. Our staff are based across the county and supported by over 1000 volunteers and more than 50 Friends groups.

24/07/2015

22/07/2015

20/07/2015

Our conservation work

Our conservation philosophy is guided by our unique position in having responsibility for a large number of important historic, but redundant, churches, and by our desire to expand community access and use. We run an extensive conservation programme of repair and maintenance, and our priority is to keep our churches structurally sound, weathertight and well presented for visitors.

Our churches

Perhaps you'd like to visit one of our hidden gems or explore one of our urban churches. With over 340 beautiful churches in our estate there are plenty to choose from, and it's easy to combine visiting a church with other attractions to create a great day out.

Regenerating communities

Historic churches are often the original community buildings. We work hard to ensure that they can continue to inspire and be used by future generations, playing a vital role in a new use which engages and benefits their communities. Our Regeneration Taskforce is England's first specialist team to place historic churches at the heart of community-led regeneration.

Support our work

Over 70% of our income is committed to conservation work and over 100 conservation projects are undertaken each year, from conserving ancient textiles or re-pointing and limewashing walls to re-leading windows and replacing roof tiles. We face a shortfall of £1.5million every year to cover essential repairs like these, as well as the major projects such as replacing roofs.